Episode of the Week : Patterns of Force

[Timo]

I guess I'm going back to the use of the word benign in describing Gill's vision of how he was going to run things.

The discrepancy between what Gill was supposed to be doing and what transpired is somewhat artificial: the "benign" version of events is all in Kirk's imagination. Or, originally, Spock's.

Gill himself never gets a word in edgewise. Initially, Kirk interrogates the drugged man, who never confirms or denies any of the charges or apologies Kirk throws in his direction. Subsequently, Kirk does his best to slap Gill out of his stupor and tells him what to say - and Gill obliges. But what Gill is doing there (probably not in good command of his wits, either) is repenting, admitting that he led the society down a monstrous path, rolling the blame for that to Melakon, and then muttering a few words for the salvation of his soul just before said entity departs.

We see no father figure in action, other than a ruthless dictator.

Now, could father figures exist in other senses? In hindsight, certainly: Stalin and Mao quickly gained a reputation as avuncular saviors after the welcome step of their departure. And correspondingly people with limited personal influence and thus limited guilt in the forces of horror that shaped history might be elevated to fatherly status from the opposite direction - anything between Washington and Gandhi goes into this slot. But a person deciding "I will have a nation" and achieving that goal will IMHO have to engage in lots of demagoguery and spin-doctoring to emerge benign.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Nerys Myk]

Some were better at it than others.

Yup. That's how you win wars.

Timo Saloniemi

The guys I'm thinking of lost that particular war. They were the ones rounding up their own citizens based on "race", and murdering them in gas chambers. Then they burned the bodies or dumped them in mass graves. The guys whose name is practically synonymous with racism, murder and genocide.

 

[Timo]

Then we have those guys who rounded up their own citizens based on nothing much, murdering them in a variety of less high-tech fashions, before applying the mass graves - then proceeding to do that to the citizens of other nations, whenever they had the time from mass raping. And then those guys who skipped the rounding up and went directly to the burning, conveniently in situ and from the air, outsourcing the burying. Both sides held the official stance that the civilian victims, defined by their race, had it coming and were the only ones to blame. That they then chose to make the name of some other guys synonymous with all that stuff just goes to show how you win wars again.

Show me a good guy from that particular war and I show you a conscientious abstainer.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Nerys Myk]

Then we have those guys who rounded up their own citizens based on nothing much, murdering them in a variety of less high-tech fashions, before applying the mass graves - then proceeding to do that to the citizens of other nations, whenever they had the time from mass raping. And then those guys who skipped the rounding up and went directly to the burning, conveniently in situ and from the air, outsourcing the burying. Both sides held the official stance that the civilian victims, defined by their race, had it coming and were the only ones to blame. That they then chose to make the name of some other guys synonymous with all that stuff just goes to show how you win wars again.

Show me a good guy from that particular war and I show you a conscientious abstainer.

Timo Saloniemi

Expected.

 

[Drone]

I guess I'm going back to the use of the word benign in describing Gill's vision of how he was going to run things.

The discrepancy between what Gill was supposed to be doing and what transpired is somewhat artificial: the "benign" version of events is all in Kirk's imagination. Or, originally, Spock's.

Gill himself never gets a word in edgewise. Initially, Kirk interrogates the drugged man, who never confirms or denies any of the charges or apologies Kirk throws in his direction. Subsequently, Kirk does his best to slap Gill out of his stupor and tells him what to say - and Gill obliges. But what Gill is doing there (probably not in good command of his wits, either) is repenting, admitting that he led the society down a monstrous path, rolling the blame for that to Melakon, and then muttering a few words for the salvation of his soul just before said entity departs.

We see no father figure in action, other than a ruthless dictator.

Now, could father figures exist in other senses? In hindsight, certainly: Stalin and Mao quickly gained a reputation as avuncular saviors after the welcome step of their departure. And correspondingly people with limited personal influence and thus limited guilt in the forces of horror that shaped history might be elevated to fatherly status from the opposite direction - anything between Washington and Gandhi goes into this slot. But a person deciding "I will have a nation" and achieving that goal will IMHO have to engage in lots of demagoguery and spin-doctoring to emerge benign.

Timo Saloniemi

Well, what Gill was supposed to be doing, that you mention in the first instance, was to observe, not to impose himself on how the society was ordered, whether the intention was benign or not. There's also no direct implication that what he implemented or the way he did it, when he was in control of his faculties, were the acts of a ruthless dictator. In fact, there are a few mentions of how the regime turned markedly for the worst at some point, one of these references made by Daras. Now while in the cooler, Isak does say that the Ekosians' viciousness began with the start of the Nazi movement, which Spock said was coincidental with Gill's arrival. That makes your contention a bit harder to refute, but it's possible that even a relatively slight discrepancy in time could explain this, as the period that Gill was actually in control before being turned into a zombified figurehead might have been realtively brief. I don't think it is established how long Melakon has been the real power behind the throne. Alternately, Gill may have started his actions without using some of the outward signs and symbols of the Nazis, perhaps appearing more like the Brown Shirts initially, let alone introducing the overtly murderous and malignant elements of the ideology.

Then we have those guys who rounded up their own citizens based on nothing much, murdering them in a variety of less high-tech fashions, before applying the mass graves - then proceeding to do that to the citizens of other nations, whenever they had the time from mass raping. And then those guys who skipped the rounding up and went directly to the burning, conveniently in situ and from the air, outsourcing the burying. Both sides held the official stance that the civilian victims, defined by their race, had it coming and were the only ones to blame. That they then chose to make the name of some other guys synonymous with all that stuff just goes to show how you win wars again.

Show me a good guy from that particular war and I show you a conscientious abstainer.

Timo Saloniemi

I guess you're referring specifically to Dresden, although obviously there were other examples of German civilians being bombed by the Allies. I doubt however, that those decisions were made owing to a manifest acceptance that the Aryan race, or more to the point the fantasy of same, was responsible for the depredations that their regime was incurring on the world. I think it's much more reasonable to link their air campaign that didn't focus on industrial, military, or energy supply targets, which in the main, and please correct me if I'm mistaken, didn't take place until the latter stages of the conflict, were meant to hasten the High Command's determination that capitulation was the only viable choice. Unfortunately, that intent wasn't allowed to be responded to rationally until the very bitter end.

Regardless, I think that the manner in which the air war was pursued was consonant with the reasoning and logic that was applied to this modality by all military combatants at this time in history. I think that, in fact, the degree to which this behaviour was followed by the Axis powers was proportionally much greater, and from the outset, than what the Allies rendered. I won't argue that whichever party engaged in it gave much thought to conducting war in a civilized manner, as opposed to inspiring fear, terror, and a concomitant weakening in the resolve of their enemy.

To a much stronger degree, I would concur with you about Dresden, which in what I've learned about it, was little short of an abomination.

I would only conclude by saying that this part of the Allies' strategy against Germany pales in significance to the modus operandi by which the Axis powers freely chose in the exercise of war, be it actual combat, true racial targeting and extermination, the treatment of prisoners, biological experiments, etc. ad infinitum.

I haven't mentioned the actions that put an end to the Pacific War, that may be far more indicting of the evil that you allude to as being commonly global in its practice. It is by nature, I think, a different discussion, that in all its implications is too complex and lengthy to continue here, but I certainly have no aversion to speaking to you about in another thread or by PM.

 

[Charles Phipps]

I work in academia and should note there's kind of an interesting fact about "Patterns of Force" which is only becoming more true as time passes. Basically, while Nazi Germany isn't the sort of thing you mention as a good thing--acadmeia is FULL of apologists and fascination with brutal nasty cultures built on stepping on others.

I wouldn't be remotely surprised with 200 years of distance that John Gill might have Nazi Germany as his "favorite" bit of history and thinking he could play Furher while maintaining all the good he saw from the Federation.

There's also a joke I think which people miss. Specifically, Gill is playing Nazi.

The Nazis were playing Romans.

 

[urbandefault]

NECROTHREAD ALERT!

 

[Qonundrum]

From what I remember - and obligatory spoiler alert since, caffeinated hamster as I am, I'll be spilling the beans-- ugh, that's too many coffee puns in as many seconds...

The Enterprise finds a near-parallel-Earth-development, which had made it into the equivalent of 1930s Earth. That's when the previous starship arrived and the captain of that ship beamed down and told the natives of the Nazis for whatever reason, with Kirk and crew trying to undo the damage done. Right down to a very tidy ending just waiting to find a rug to be swept under.

In reality, it's a bottle show that uses costumes, sets, and props from "Hogan's Heroes" in order to save money.

The laser cutting scene didn't impress the child version of me a few decades ago. The adult child I am nowadays doesn't believe it either. Other references come to mind...

Still, the episode isn't without certain charms. There were some good quips and exchanges. Like this one:

"Captain, I'm beginning to understand why you earth men enjoy gambling. No matter how carefully one computes the odds of success, there is still a certain... exhilaration in the risk."
"Very good, Spock. We may make a Human of you yet."
"I hope not."

"Do you know what we do to responsible Zeons?"

If you want to punish them, you make them watch this episode,

LOL!!

which I generously gave a 5. The downhill slide of episode quality accelerated with this one. By the time this turkey hit the TV screens of America, all-time classic second season episodes like "Amok Time," "Who Mourns for Adonais," "The Doomsday Machine," "Journey To Babel," and "Mirror, Mirror" must have seemed like they were produced years, not months, before.

Why does this episode bother me? Let me count the ways....

1. Nazi's. What kind of historians uses that example of "efficiency" to "unify" a "fragmented" planet? (maybe new Trek will reinvent this episode and choose ISIS as their "unifying force").

Technically, they were efficient. John Gill (absolutely no relation to the musician who was born in 1966) didn't do a good enough job at explaining the nuances, I could imagine the meeting going something like this:

Gill: "A unified country is good for all the people but don't do what the nazis did"
Melakon: "What did they do"
Gill: "Well, they did all these atrocities... (long list of atrocities adumbrated, which perked up Melakon's interest) ...So when getting your society back together, be sure to rub people the right way ♫"
Melakon: "Will do." (syringes Gill with the brainadope)

2. Swastikas. See #1. Also, couldn't they come up with an alternative logo for these fools?

The alien lizards from "V" did a better job... why not these guys?

3. Zeon for Zion. Talk about hitting the audience over the head with a 10 pound sausage.

Pretty much, it readily proves how this story was by far the weakest parallel Earth escapade.

4. The Nazi with the crisp British accent. How BBC of the producers.

LOL.

At least he wasn't Colonel Clank. The episode could have been worse if they tried another laugh-fest due to the success of "Tribbles".

Wasn't this episode in the latter half of season 2, past the point when the show was originally axed (prior to the fan mail barrage that got it renewed and sent to the Friday timeslot?)

5. The "let's just forget the impending genocide and all be friends" ending. "Now we'll start to live the way the Fuhrer meant us to live." That may be the most insane (or inane?) line of dialog spoken in the entire series! The fuhrer was the guy who made you Nazis, BritNazi!

Better than Reverend Wainright from the 1989 Doctor Who story "The Curse of Fenric", who was a Nazi sympathizer.

It's definitely a glib ending, making endings like "The Cloud Minders" seem nuanced and intricate by comparison.

I'm sure I can think of more things, but you probably get it by now.

Like "Return To Tomorrow," this episode bears more resemblance to a third season episode than a second season affair. I'm just as excited as watching snoozefests like "The Empath," "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield" or "For The World Is Hollow And I have Touched The Sky" as I am as watching this nonsense.

Ugh, "Return to Tomorrow". Kirk had a great monologue in one scene, but the rest of the story was... sub-season 3 as well as this one.

"Battlefield" has some good acting despite very glib overgeneralizations. "Empath" is just a hollow, empty episode. FTWIH&IHTTS pretty much fell apart the moment-- wait, the title alone has the story falling apart during reading the first 40% of syllables, never mind shortly after the commercial break when Kirk breaks his promise to McCoy to not blab about his medical condition in the pre-credits bit and puts into his log informing Starfleet how McCoy's gonna die and an immediate replacement needs to be sent out, stat. Never mind the convenient ending, "Oh look there's a cure! Hey Starfleet, nix my request and don't let McCoy know I squealed."

Final thought: Thank goodness the SS Horizon didn't leave a book on Nazi Germany behind!

Not "Bonnie and Clyde" world with the Fizzbin! (yikes...)

In premise, the parallel Earth development was novel, while being money-saving and - yeah - it's not inconceivable that dominant species would be virtually human in appearance, not merely humanoid. It worked better for stories like "Miri", but TV shows like "Sliders" used the concept a lot more effectively. Trek overused the trope a few too many times as well, leading to gangsterworld and naziland...

 

[Qonundrum]

I work in academia and should note there's kind of an interesting fact about "Patterns of Force" which is only becoming more true as time passes. Basically, while Nazi Germany isn't the sort of thing you mention as a good thing--acadmeia is FULL of apologists and fascination with brutal nasty cultures built on stepping on others.

I wouldn't be remotely surprised with 200 years of distance that John Gill might have Nazi Germany as his "favorite" bit of history and thinking he could play Furher while maintaining all the good he saw from the Federation.

^^this

Innovations and improvements usually come about from finding out what works and applying the good aspects. Piecemeal being the key issue, Gill thought he'd try to innovate. The word "whoops" comes to mind to describe the result of his meddling, imagine if Barbara Wright had succeeded only to end up failing even worse with the Aztecs ("Doctor Who")...

And academics will always find something to apologize for, to rationalize, even for both sides of the situation they're studying, since nobody was there at the time and nobody has lived 500-100000 years to see it firsthand with pure authenticity. That'd make for an interesting topic on its own... until then, there's always Sleestak.

 

[Charles Phipps]

I get the impression this episode is controversial for the obvious reasons but I think it's actually a very good episode and it should also be noted I think the whole "efficiency" argument (i.e. this episode is wrong because Nazis were efficient) is a really TERRIBLE argument.

Even if they were efficient, the problem is the Nazis became murderous warmongers and scumbags who survived only the creation of scapegoats as well as going against innocent people. That's a good message that even if the Nazis WERE incredibly skilled, their end goals are the problem not their ability to reach them.

It's kind of a "whoosh" completely missing the point criticism. We also need more episodes pointing out the Nazis were awful people because apparently that message hasn't sunk in.

Kirk himself said it was the cult of personality and absolute power which was the problem (i.e. the system itself) not the trappings.

^^this

Innovations and improvements usually come about from finding out what works and applying the good aspects. Piecemeal being the key issue, Gill thought he'd try to innovate. The word "whoops" comes to mind to describe the result of his meddling, imagine if Barbara Wright had succeeded only to end up failing even worse with the Aztecs ("Doctor Who")...

And academics will always find something to apologize for, to rationalize, even for both sides of the situation they're studying, since nobody was there at the time and nobody has lived 500-100000 years to see it firsthand with pure authenticity. That'd make for an interesting topic on its own... until then, there's always Sleestak.

I think part of what bothers me about this episode's critics and what also makes me think this is a very good episode is that I grew up in the Deep South and the history department I studied under in Kentucky might as well have been called Robert E. Lee's fanclub.

If they ever had done a Confederate episode, I would have loved it as someone really does need to attack the myth.

Ironically, I think "The Cloud Minders" more or less essentially does anyway but may be TOO removed from the subject matter and a reason why the Nazis being the Nazis is important. Looking through subject matter through the eyes of metaphor is all well and good but sometimes the metaphor can be lost.

 

[Spock's Barber]

Ugh! I hate PoF. I just do not like dumb ass aliens who cannot create a culture of their own.

 

[johnnybear]

Strange also that this episode if viewed in star date order would be the tenth or eleventh show as 2534.0 in the concordance or was it elsewhere but it's been disavowed now I believe!
JB

 

[1001001]

NECROTHREAD ALERT!

Indeed.

Two Patterns of Force threads have risen from the dead.

Let's please stick to the rules. If it hasn't had a post in over a year, please let the thread rest in peace. Feel free to start a new thread, with a link to the old (if you wish) as @T'Bonz has decreed.

https://www.trekbbs.com/rules/#post-11662568

" Resurrecting dead threads. If you find a thread that has not had a post in it in over a year, don't post in it. Start a new thread instead. You can, if necessary, link back to the old thread if something crucial is in the thread."

Thanks